The Final Breakup
by GoldenManekiNeko
Summary: Ever wonder what the final nail in the coffin of The Joker and Harley Quinn's iconic relationship was before the New 52? Takes place before Batman and Harley Quinn, Arkham Origins and the New 52 series.


It was a quiet, gloomy night as usual in the sketchy city of Gotham. Harley Quinn angrily stormed through the streets after having escaped Arkham Asylum for the umpteenth time. Not only had her boyfriend, The Joker neglected to rescue her from Batman's clutches during a heist but he had also failed to bust her out of Arkham Asylum as well, leaving her to have to escape on her own. Things had not been the same between her and The Joker since The Joker had helped her escape from the Suicide Squad. It were as if their relationship had slowly been depleting over the past, few months and Harley was beginning to feel betrayed by the man she once loved dearly. She was not completely blameless in their relationship either but The Joker had no clue about her most, recent fault.

Harley let out a startled gasp at the sudden flash of lighting, followed by a irritated grunt when it had begun to pour down rain. By the time she had reached her destination, her joints not only ached but she was soaking-wet as well. Being sore and tired only fueled her previous anger. She had decided that she was finally going to confront The Joker about his bitter disposition toward her once and for all that night.

"Hey, Puddin'! Did ya forget somethin' at Arkham?!" Harley loudly reminded after she had kicked open the front-door to The Joker's hideout.

"Oh, right...You..." The Joker scoffed with that uncaring tone that Harley had been hearing from him a lot lately. Fury began to build up within Harley at that Tone. It was as if he did not even care about her anymore.

"What the heck, Puddin'?! And after everything I've done for ya?!" Harley finally snapped after long, agonizing months of this. It were as if The Joker was not even himself anymore. He did not joke around with her like he used to anymore and she just wanted her clowny boyfriend back.

"What are you talking about?" The Joker questioned as he finally turned his attention from his work to fully face her.

"Oh, I dunno: killin' for ya, stealin' for ya, givin' ya all those free, therapy sessions where I had to listen to all those stories about how ya used to wear your dad's oversized, Church pants! I let ya infect our babies with rabies for cryin' out loud!" Harley angrily reminded her boyfriend of all the sacrifices she had made for him.

"Yeah but you didn't do those things because you love me, you did those things because you felt badly about Deadshot..." The Joker accused. Harley felt her blood run cold as her heart sank to her stomach.

"Y-Ya know about Deadshot?" She squeaked, almost out of breath from the shock. How could he have possibly found out about the things she had been doing with Deadshot? Did Deadshot squeal on her? Had The Joker bugged her? Did Amanda Waller tip the Joker off on her playful activity?

"I think I know...Why? I mean, I know what I think but I'm not sure if what I think I know is what really happened..." The Joker questioned as he dropped his serious demeanor for the first time in months.

"Y-Ya know that I slept with Deadshot?" Harley finally admitted as the weight from all the guilt she was feeling had finally squeezed the truth out of her.

"YOU SLEPT WITH DEADSHOT?!" The Joker roared as he angrily stood up from his chair.

"Well, yeah! What'd ya think happened?!" Harley gasped from the shock of his reaction.

"I don't know! Not that! I knew something sketchy happened but I just thought you told him all of my best jokes and now he was using them for his bad-boy dialogue..." The Joker explained as tears began to well up within his dark eyes.

"Puddin', I know...I screwed up..." Harley began, on the verge of tears herself before she was cut off by The Joker.

"Oh, here it comes! You can't keep doing this! You can't just keep running off with other villains like this and then try to blame it on me like that makes everything okay! You need to be better!" The Joker shouted at her, his voice cracking between sentences as he did so.

"I know and I'm sorry! I was drunk and I was under a lot of stress with the Suicide Squad and thinkin' you were dead but now that I'm free, I can..." Harley began to explain herself only to be cut off by The Joker once again.

"Stop, Harleen...Just stop...The horrible things you do to me aren't because of anything that happened to you in the Suicide Squad or your childhood, it's you! Alright? It's you..." The Joker finally snapped at Harley after years of emotional torment.

Harley let out a small gasp as her eyes widened slightly with horror. The Joker had never once called her by her full name before. It felt as if he had cut ties with her for good. Now she really felt as if she had ruined everything for good this time.

"Oh, Harleen...This relationship was always just a huge joke to you, wasn't it?" The Joker questioned, finally allowing his tears to freely flow from his eyes.

"Maybe it's for the best if you just...go back to being a psychiatrist..." He sighed in defeat.

"I..." Harley began as tears began to cascade down her own cheeks. She gave up on her sentence of defense with a reluctant sigh, knowing that there was absolutely nothing she could say that would fix everything. She knew that her relationship with The Joker had ended for real this time. With a broken heart, she left The Joker's lair for the last time, ultimately deciding that she was done with the World of superheroes and villains. From now on, she would try to go back to living a normal life.

She deserved it after she had hurt the one person that she had once claimed to care about most far, too, many times as well as far beyond repair." Once he was sure she was gone, The Joker leaned against the front-door to his lair and slowly slid down into a sitting position. He began to cry softly, his soft sobs soon turning into hysterical ones as years of bottled-up emotions had finally left his body through his tear-ducts as well as his vocal-chords. How could he have been so naive as to let one of his henchmen get so close to his heart? He should have known that she would not be a reliable lover. If the word got out that he had allowed his emotions to be toyed with by one of his own henchmen, he would never be taken seriously as a villain again. At that point, he decided that he would pull off such extreme crimes that Batman would have no choice but to kill him.

However, he would get some much-needed rest to numb his emotional pain before coming up with his desperately, devastating plots. Anything to finally be free of the World's torment.


End file.
